Hides Fine Foods’ Christmas Cake

Christmas cake, love it or hate it, it truly is a festive staple. Whether you like to cover your cake in apricot jam and marzipan, or even eat it with cheese like they do in Yorkshire, this recipe will work perfectly for you.

The origins of the Christmas cake are humble ones. Beginning as plum porridge, it was eaten to line the stomach on Christmas Eve after a day of fasting. Since then, the oats have been removed, the plums have been replaced with currants, and here we are. 

Using Hides Fine Foods’ premium ingredients, make this Christmas an extra special one.

Serves 14:

• 500g Hides Fine Foods Bulk Mixed Dried Fruit with Peel 
• 250g Hides Fine Foods Glace Cherries (Bulk Cherries ¼ box)
• 250g Hides Fine Foods Bulk Dried Sweetened Cranberries (½ bag)
• 100g Hides Fine Foods Bulk Broken Walnuts (⅕ bag) 
• 150ml brandy of your choice
• 2 oranges, juiced and zested 
• 250g butter, softened
• 250g light or dark muscovado sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 free-range eggs
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp mixed spice

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Preparation:

• Soak your Mixed Dried Fruit, Glacé Cherries, and Dried Cranberries with the brandy. Mix well, then cover and leave for 24 hours.

Hides Fine Foods Tip – struggling for time? Don’t worry. Put this mixture in the microwave for 1 minute on high, then at 30 second intervals until hot. Leave on the side covered for one hour minimum, then voilà, perfectly soaked fruit. 

 

 

Method:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3.
• Line your cake tin well, we recommend a 20cm round tin.
• Cream together your butter and sugar, and add in the vanilla extract.
• Crack your eggs in one at a time to avoid splitting the mixture – watch out for shell!
• Add your remaining dry ingredients – flour, walnuts and mixed spice.
• Finally, add in your soaked fruit, making sure to pour in any remaining soaking liquid.
• Pour the mixture into your lined tin, then bake for 1.5 hours.
• After 1.5 hours, reduce the oven temperature to 140C/120C fan/gas 1.
• Cover your cake with a thick layer of tin foil or baking paper and bake for another 2.5 hours.
• After this time, poke your cake with a skewer and check if it comes out clean. If not, bake for another 30 minutes and check with a skewer once again.
• Once cooled, store in an airtight container until required. Every week, poke holes into the top of the cake and feed it with some brandy to make it extra succulent.
  
  

The information in this article is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. Hides Fine Foods takes no responsibility for the subsequent use or application of the information provided in this article.